Understanding and healing family-based trauma and loss:

Facilitating and supporting permanence for children and families through adoption, kinship and customary care

An 8-day (48 hour) Curriculum

Toronto ACT Training Dates & Times:

Location: The George Hull Centre for Children and Families81 The East Mall, Etobicoke, M8Z 5W3

(See map below).

Time: All sessions are held from 9AM-4PM (lunch is on your own).

Dates:

Session 1 & 2: February 26 & 27, 2018

Session 3 & 4: April 16 & 17, 2018

Session 5 & 6: May 14 & 15, 2018

Session 7 & 8: June 18 & 19, 2018

About the ACT Training

“This curriculum should be required for anyone who is entering the field of adoption and permanency.”- (ACT graduate)

Adoption and permanency create issues that are both complex and lifelong for children, adoptive parents and caregivers, and birth families. In addition, children in the child welfare system are more likely to have experienced trauma than other children, resulting in emotional and behavioral problems that create additional strain for adoptive parents and caregivers. The serious shortage of pre- and post-permanency service providers that fully appreciate these complex issues frequently leads to families feeling isolated, frustrated and hopeless, often leading to disrupted adoptions or foster care placements, and children being placed in group homes or residential treatment. The ACO, in partnership with Kinship Center, a member of Seneca Family of Agencies, is very pleased to offer the ACT curriculum for the first time in Ontario to address this significant gap in services to our adoptive, kinship and customary care families.

Detailed Information about ACT

Click here for detailed information on ACT including Course Objectives, detailed Session Overviews for all 8 days of the ACT curriculum, the Core Competencies of the ACT curriculum, Evaluation Results of ACT’s Effectiveness and background on the development of ACT.

Trainers:

Caroline Sears, MSWcaroline.h.sears@gmail.comCaroline is a social worker with many years of experience working as a grief counselor in the healthcare field. She is now working as an adoption therapist providing counseling for pre-adoptive and adoptive parents to address infertility and adoption, grief and loss, trauma and neglect, attachment difficulties, emotional effects of parenting children with learning disabilities, FAS, medical concerns and developmental or social concerns. She also has over 15 years of experience parenting adoptive and biological children.

Judy Archer, MSW,judy.archer@adoptontario.caJudy is a mental health professional who has recently joined the ACO as Manager of Permanency and Adoption Support Services. Judy has over 40 years of experience working in the field of adoption, children-in-care, and special needs. She has also had the privilege of providing a myriad of mental health services in First Nation communities on Vancouver Island and at family service agencies in Northern Ontario. Judy is an experienced trainer and has also been involved in writing adoption related curriculum for the Ministry in British Columbia.

Details:

Cost: $1,300 per person. This includes a 600-page training and resource manual; and refreshments on all training days.

Potential $500 Reimbursement of ACT fees: Social workers and social service workers who are registered and in good standing with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers are eligible to apply to the College for a reimbursement of up to $500 of PD activities. We understand that the ACT training fees have qualified for this reimbursement. Please see more information at www.oasw.org

Certificate: A certificate of completion will be provided.

Note: The ACT course meets the qualification for 48 CEU hours for Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists and Licensed Clinical Social Workers in the state of California, USA. The ACO will pursue ACT’s eligibility in Ontario for professional continuing education hours.

Would you like this ACT training to come to your region?

This information will help us to determine demand for PACT trainings by region, and you will be signed up for the ACO Newsletter to be notified about new offerings.

Dates

The Adoption Council of Ontario

The Adoption Council of Ontario is a not-for-profit providing outreach, support and education to all adoptees, adoptive parents, potential adoptive parents, birth families, and adoption professionals in Ontario. We deal with public adoption, private adoption, international adoption and relative adoption. Since 1987, we have been working towards a provincial community where all children have families forever.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The Ontario Trillium Foundation is an agency of the government of Ontario.